Red Palm Weevil is a key pest of palm trees worldwide. Various studies have been conducted on life history and behavior of RPW, however some key points in egg laying period is still missing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the egg-laying timing as a number of egg /day /female, time interval between egg laying event and the female bio-etiological needs while ovipositing. The study was carried out through recording the behavior of adults with PC-driven video cameras equipped with natural bright and artificial IR light source. RPW was collected and allowed to lay eggs on Phoenix canariensis petiole. The number of eggs per day is variable according to time and female age; the average number of eggs per event is 4.13. Moreover egg laying timing and the time of deposition are quite variable while eggs can be laid anytime during the day and night. The average egg-laying time was 54.52 sec. The observations showed that the females need to fly, feed and mate before egg laying process.
Egg laying and egg laying behavior of Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) 1790 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)
PORCELLI, Francesco;
2011-01-01
Abstract
Red Palm Weevil is a key pest of palm trees worldwide. Various studies have been conducted on life history and behavior of RPW, however some key points in egg laying period is still missing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the egg-laying timing as a number of egg /day /female, time interval between egg laying event and the female bio-etiological needs while ovipositing. The study was carried out through recording the behavior of adults with PC-driven video cameras equipped with natural bright and artificial IR light source. RPW was collected and allowed to lay eggs on Phoenix canariensis petiole. The number of eggs per day is variable according to time and female age; the average number of eggs per event is 4.13. Moreover egg laying timing and the time of deposition are quite variable while eggs can be laid anytime during the day and night. The average egg-laying time was 54.52 sec. The observations showed that the females need to fly, feed and mate before egg laying process.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
